Protesters demand immigration agents leave Minneapolis after man is shot and killed during crackdown

Democrats demanded that federal immigration officers leave Minnesota after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot a man in Minneapolis, drawing hundreds of protesters onto the frigid streets and increasing tensions in a city already shaken by another shooting death weeks earlier.

Family members identified the man who was killed as Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse who protested President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in his city. After the shooting, an angry crowd gathered and protesters clashed with federal officers, who wielded batons and deployed flash bangs.

The Minnesota National Guard was assisting local police at the direction of Gov. Tim Walz, officials said. Guard troops were sent to both the shooting site and a federal building where officers have squared off with demonstrators daily.

Information about what led up to the shooting was limited, Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that federal officers were conducting an operation and fired “defensive shots” after a man with a handgun approached them and “violently resisted” when they tried to disarm him.

O’Hara said police believe he was a “lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.”

The officer who shot him is an eight-year Border Patrol veteran, federal officials said.

The president weighed in on social media by lashing out at Walz and the Minneapolis mayor.

He shared images of the gun that immigration officials said was recovered and said: “What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers?”

Trump, a Republican, said the Democratic governor and mayor are “are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was among several Democratic lawmakers demanding federal immigration authorities leave Minnesota. She also urged Democrats to refuse to vote to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying via social media: “We have a responsibility to protect Americans from tyranny.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer later said that Democrats will not vote for a spending package that includes money for DHS, which oversees ICE. Schumer’s statement increases the possibility that the government could partially shut down Jan. 30 when funding runs out.

Pretti was shot just over a mile from where an ICE officer killed 37-year-old Renee Good on Jan. 7, sparking widespread protests.

Pretti’s family released a statement Saturday evening saying they are “heartbroken but also very angry” and calling him a kindhearted soul who wanted to make a difference in the world through his work as a nurse.

“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed,” the family statement said. “Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.